John mbelette



(No Model.)

Y J. MBRLETTE, sr. 'MEANS POR PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS.

Patented Dec. 20', 1887".

//Zzessees;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN MERLETTE, SR., OF BOUND BROOK, `NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOBENJAMIN B. MATTHEWS, OF SAME PLACE.

MEANS FOR PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374.985, dated December20, 1887.

Application filed March 30, 1887. Serial No. 232,986.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, J oHN MEELETTE, Sr., ofBound Brook, in the county ofSomerset and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Apparatus for Propelling and Steering Vessels, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention consists in a novel combination of screw-propellers forvessels, whereby the drag of the backwater or its resistance to thepropulsion of the vessel is to a great extent obviated; and it furtherconsists in a novel combination, with two screw-propellers arranged onebefore another on the same shaft in the stern of the vessel, of tworudders arranged between the two propellers, the said two rudders beingsuitable for use separately or in combination with a rudder arrangedlike that commonly employed for steering screwpropelled vessels.

Figure l in the accompanying drawings is a side view of the after partof a vessel having my invention applied. Fig. 2 is a stern view ofthesame. Fig. 8 is a plan in the line x a' of Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in theseveral figures.

A designates the hull of the vessel, and B C D D designate fourscrew-propellers.

The two screw-propellers B O are secured upon one shaft, a, whichoccupies a central position in the vessel, like the shaft of the singlescrew-propeller commonly used. The propeller B occupies the sameposition as the single propeller commonly used-that is to say, in anopening, c, between the stern-post b and the solid portion d of thestructure of the ves sel forward thereof. The propeller C, which is somedistance forward of that B, works in an opening, e, provided in the hullforward of the solid portion or post d. Thelatter propeller may besomewhat smallerl than the first one, and is so represented.

The two sicrew-propellers D D' have separate shafts g g', which arearranged in the same horizontal plane some distance above thepropeller-shaft a. and at equal distances from the horizontal center ofthe vessel. The said propellers are arranged on the ends of their shaftsentirelyT outside of the hull, but

(No model.)

some distance forward of the propeller C. Their diameter is so muchsmaller than that of the propeller B that their blades when in theirhighest position are at about the same level as are the ends of theblades of B when in their highest position. One of the said propellers DD has its blades of right-hand and the other its blades of left-handpitch, and their shafts g g' are intended to be so geared with eachother and with the shafts c of the propellers B C or to be so driventhat the said shafts gg will rotate in opposite directions.

The hull of the vessel is made quite full, as shown Aat hin Figs. 2 and3, immediately in front of the propellers D D', in order to protecttheir blades.

E designates a rudder like that commonly employed in screw-propelledvessels,arranged outside of the stern-post b. F F designate two rudders,each constructed like a single rudder, arranged one on each side of thepost or solid structure d ofthe vessel between the openings c e, inwhich the two screw1')ropellers B C work. These two rudders, when not inuse, lie flat against the side of the post d in the position in which F'is shown in Fig. 3 and parallel with the longitudinal center of thevessel. The said post d is represented in Figs. 1 and 3 as havingconstructed in it recesses i i for the reception of the two rudders FF', so that they may be brought flush with the exterior of the vessel.These two rudders may be worked by steering apparatus of any known orsuitable kind.

By the employment of a number of propel- 1ers forward of the stern-postand at different distances therefrom-two in the center of the vessel,one before the other, and two farther forward on opposite sides of thecenter of the vessel and above the'central propellers-almost the entirebody of water aft of the submerged portion of the vessel is caused to beacted upon by the propellers withgood propulsive effect, and the drag ofthe backwater, which is prejudicial to the propulsive effect ofscrew-propellers applied according to the usual methods, is obviated.

The position of the two rudders F F', arranged one on each side of thepost or solid Structure d, between the two central propellers, B O,renders them very effective under all circumstances, whether used alonein cases when no such rudder as E 'is provided or whether used incombination with and at the same time as the rudder E or whether appliedto a vessel as supplemental rudders, not to be used until some accidenthappens to the rudder E.

What I claim as my invention,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a vessel, with two screwpropellers and one shaftarranged centrally to the vessel and having the said propellers arrangedupon it one before the other, of two other serew-propellers and separateshafts therefor arranged above and forward of both ofthe centralpropellers at equal distances singes from the center of the vessel onopposite sides thereof, substantially as and for the purpose herein setforth. l

2. The combination, in a vessel, with two screw-propellers arranged onebefore the other in separate openings provided in the stern'of` thevessel, with a post or solid structure ybetween them, and a shaftcentral to the vessel and common to both propellers, of two rudderslarranged between the two propellers, one on each side of the said postor solid structure, substantially as and for the purposes hereindescribed.

' JNO. MERLETTE, SR. Vitnesses:

FREDK. HAYNEs, HENRY J. MCBRIDE.

